St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra Concert Hall, Hong Kong Cultural Centre Continues tonight at Cultural Centre and tomorrow at Sha Tin Town Hall, both with different programmes. Serious collectors of classical music recordings all know about the legacy of the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra under legendary conductor Eugeny (or Yevgeny) Mravinsky from 1938 until his death in 1988. Mravinsky's successor as chief conductor of this group - now called the St Petersburg Philharmonic - is Yuri Temirkanov. He has brought the orchestra to Hong Kong to perform in three concerts starting from last night, where it displayed great orchestral virtuosity and sheer grandeur. In the first half of the concert, Vladimir Feltsman was the soloist in Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No 1. His playing exhibited strength and vitality with many shades of tone colours. His touch was always solid and yet very agile, enabling him to go through the technically demanding concerto as if taking a cheerful evening stroll - perhaps too cheerful. One could, indeed, ask for more earnestness and less dallying around the emotional messages. Rapport between orchestra and soloist was sensitive and the dialogues between them were often exciting. Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition, in the ubiquitous orchestral version by Ravel, was featured in the second half of the concert. Temirkanov, with his theatrical podium style, performed it as an orchestral showpiece. There were sharp dramatic contrasts, limpid and rich orchestral colours, suave phrasings, and very proficient ensemble playing - which Hong Kong's orchestras do not even begin to approach. The fabulous brass section of the orchestra especially dazzled with wonderful sonority. Mravinsky would have probed more into the spiritual depth of each passage, and would make the rendering a more intense experience. That said, it was still a highly accomplished performance.